E. coli is widely used for production of chemicals by the recombinant expression of biosynthetic pathways, which can involve overexpression of several native and/or foreign genes. However, where the biosynthetic pathway involves recombinant expression of one or more cytochrome P450 enzymes (e.g., to perform oxidative chemistry), other host organisms such as yeast are generally preferred. See Chang & Keasling, Nat. Chem. Bio. 2006. The perceived limitations of the bacterial system for oxidative chemistry include the absence of electron transfer machinery and P450-reductases (CPRs), and translational incompatibility of the membrane signal modules of P450 enzymes due to the lack of an endoplasmic reticulum. Thus, it remains a commonly held belief in the scientific community that E. coli is a generally unsuitable host for P450 expression and expression of biosynthetic pathways incorporating the same. See Tippman et al., Biotech. Journal (2013); Thodey et al., Nat. Chem. Bio. (2014).
It is an object of the invention to improve productivity of P450 enzymes in bacterial platforms such as E. coli, to thereby expand the utility of these platforms for P450 chemistry.